Avoid these five outdated rules and improve the effectiveness of your approach to finding a healthcare job.

Healthcare has changed substantially in the last 50 years. Thanks to better preventative measures, medicines, and treatments, average life expectancy in the U.S. has increased from 69.9 years in 1963 to 78.7 years today. Research continues at a brisk pace despite a rather sluggish economy, and the Affordable Care Act enables as many as 50 million new patients to access essential healthcare services.

As time moves on, so do job search rules. Many still commonly touted as essential are now unnecessary. Some can even hamper your ability to secure a new healthcare position. Consider these outdated rules to avoid and improve the efficiency and effectiveness of your approach.

Rule 1: Don’t search for a new job while you still have your old one.

You may have heard this one from your parents or grandparents—and in their day, it was probably a valid job search rule. Before the advent of the Internet, looking for a new position required time off during the workday—something you’d need to explain to your employer. Today, thanks to healthcare association memberships, after-hours networking opportunities, and websites like HEALTHeCAREERS Network, you can identify new opportunities without asking for additional time off the clock.

Rule 2: Don’t waste your time if they aren’t actively hiring.

According to many sources, the U.S. is currently in the midst of a doctor and nurse shortage—and as new patients obtain insurance, forcing medical facilities to expand, that shortage is likely to extend to other healthcare professionals as well. If you really want to work for the city’s biggest hospital, that highly praised nursing facility, or the clinic down the street, approach the hiring manager. If they’re not looking right this moment, there’s a good chance they will be in the future—and your resume and cover letter will already be in their hands.

Rule3: Use a landline for every phone interview.

A 2013 survey found that 39 percent of American households don’t even have landline phones anymore. The majority use their mobiles for all or almost all phone calls. Not only is this outdated rule unrealistic, it’s completely unnecessary—provided you ensure you take the call in an area where you have good cell phone reception. If you suffer from generally spotty service, consider a software application like Skype that will allow you to make calls from your desktop over the Internet.

Rule 4: Include every job on your resume.

If you’ve been working for several decades, you don’t need to include every position on your resume. Employers are primarily interested in how you’ve spent the last 10 to 15 years of your career. Of course, you also want to present your qualifications in the best light. If you’ve done phenomenal work—and can show it with facts and figures—go ahead and include it. You don’t even have to keep your resume to a single page. New rules of thumb are one page for recent graduates and two for experienced healthcare professionals.

Rule 5: Don’t mess with what worked in the past.

So you’ve been working for the same medical office for 10 years and are now considering new opportunities. While it’s true that your old resume helped land your current job, don’t just add your new experience and call it good. Give the document a top-to-bottom overhaul. This means ditching overly formal language in favor of a conversational tone, axing the ‘objective’ and replacing it with a ‘skills summary,’ and removing ‘References available on request’ as well. While you’re at it, make sure you work in a few keywords in case the employer is using an applicant tracking system.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the healthcare industry added 21,000 new positions in June. Over the last year, healthcare hiring has averaged 18,000 jobs each month, consistently contributing to job growth despite the ups and downs of the nation’s economy. Whether you’re seeking employment as a physician, surgeon, nurse, medical assistant, receptionist or admin, opportunities should be plentiful—especially if you avoid these outdated job search rules.